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This is quite a big one, kind of serious – or as serious as you want to make it. In terms of a challenge I think it makes a nice one. Inspired by the ‘Imitating the past vs taking inspiration to create something new’ thread, your mission is as follows:

Record a track following the wisdom of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty’s ‘The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)’

The full thing is here in case, for some inexplicable reason, you don’t already own a copy:

We won't need to follow the full thing - mainly because the entire business/marketing side is totally out-dated, but also because actually getting to Number One is not the relevant part of the Challenge. You should read it all for fun, but the real focus of the challenge is on the creative side, utilising the themes in contemporaneous pop culture to create a new addictive, all-consuming track of internet-straddling proportions.

This is all still true, format notwithstanding:

"Firstly, it has to have a dance groove that will run all the way through the record and that the current 7? buying generation will find irresistible. Secondly, it must be no longer than three minutes and thirty seconds (just under 3’20 is preferable). If they are any longer Radio One daytime DJs will start fading early or talking over the end, when the chorus is finally being hammered home – the most important part of any record. Thirdly, it must consist of an intro, a verse, a chorus, second verse, a second chorus, a breakdown section, back into a double length chorus and outro. Fourthly, lyrics. You will need some, but not many."
And pretty much everything creative related from the CAUSALITY PLUS A PINCH OF MYSTICISM section onwards.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be overtly dance-oriented since we are once again living in an era of guitar popularity; Biffy Clyro and Foals at the top of the charts. Jamie Reynolds notoriously stated that the Klaxons were created by following the rules to The Manual. That’s not entirely true but much of the ethos informed them significantly.

We’ll have a 6 week deadline, so people should aim to have their tracks ready by mid-June, ready for the Summer. These tracks will be the soundtrack to bbq’s on the beach, festival crowds, tv trails and 6th form balls. This will be your prize, but we may even use a simple Like/<3 system to crown someone Number One of the Challenge and an appropriate award may ensue.

is it three and a half or four and a half 'Yes's'? Either way, that's more than I was expecting.

I'm really interested to see how people interpret what is popular. Pretty sure I will have something in mind and it will turn out sounding like me rather than something you'd hear in the Hit Parade. But that will be the fun of it.

but that's mainly to get the 'sound' of a number one hit single - both for the synth instruments and the final radio friendly mix. I don't. The former is a bit outdated, because it;s much easier to get hold of software that can create the musical sounds needed for a song. The latter we don't really need to worry about, unless you want to take this REALLY seriously.